We noticed that you're using an unsupported browser. The TripAdvisor website may not display properly. We support the following browsers:
Windows:Internet Explorer,
Mozilla Firefox,
Google Chrome.
Mac:Safari.

Lucca, Italy Culinary Tour

In this walled Tuscan city, visitors eat their way through the local culture.

Content provided by

Rating: 5 out of 5 by EveryTrail members

Difficulty: Easy

Duration: Multiple days

Overview :
Surveying the Lucchese skyline from one of the handful of remaining medieval towers above the city, you’ll see a sea of low-lying... more » ocher roofs, bounded by regiments of evergreens, bounded in turn by mountains forming phantom camels against the setting sun. Italian cities make for easy drama. It’s all here. Take a walk through Lucca’s Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, a sun-bleached ellipse of medieval houses built upon the ruins of a Roman amphitheater. less «

Tips:
Looking to avoid the midsummer crowds in Florence and Pisa? Hit off-the-radar places like Siena, Maremma, and Lucca in July for music ... more »shows and festivals on local piazzas. less «

At the touristy but still vital Buca di Sant Antonio restaurant, lunch on grilled baby goat cooked on the spit along with an artichoke pudding.

Address:
3 Via della Cervia
Lucca
Italy

Phone:
39-05-835-5881

3. Carli

The jewelry shop is divine with a 17th-century safe, bright frescoes, and its outstanding collection of silver, watches, and unusual objects such as Neapolitan corni (horns), amulets carved out of red coral that are imputed to ward off the evil eye.

Firouz Galdo, an Iranian-born architect working in Rome, was brought in to create a contemporary space full of light, wood, and pewter—the whole thing could easily sit atop a Hong Kong skyscraper. Grano Salis, full of young locals, is certainly in the pro-kebab camp. Its website weighs in on the controversy, noting that Italian cuisine is flooded ... Morewith foreign influences and that there’s not a whale of difference between, say, sashimi and crudo or, for that matter, kebabs and the Italian spiedini. The interior of Grano Salis is covered in mottoes such as mangia come pensi (“Eat like you think”), and thoughtful is the best way to describe the restaurant’s professional and knowledgeable waitstaff, who will say things like: “The octopus we saw today at the market was too small. We didn’t like it.”

A hydrangea-scented refuge abutting the walls, and the most geometrically lovely spot in Lucca, a copse of bamboo reaching up to the San Frediano bell tower.

Address:
33 Via degli Asili
Lucca
Italy

Phone:
39-05-8395-4029

8. Pult Drink & Food

The owners used to have a popular shack by the sea and now they’ve gone big in the city, creating an outdoor summertime oasis favored by up-to-date locals—everywhere you look you’ll spot those famous Lucchese schnozzes buried tide-deep in fish. Pult has the best crudo in town, which is saying something, and nicely salted and olived sea bass. The ... Morefritto misto is ethereal, particularly the zucchini and shrimp; indeed the art of frying at Pult is deft and Japanese. The only warning: During late nights in summer, a terrifying dance party may break out.

The outdoor terrace is seductively shrouded in bougainvillea and the aromas of a superior kitchen. Tuck into a langoustine that might as well be butter, amazing red mullet, fatty raw oysters, and a sauce of balsamic, oil, pepper, salt, and, yes, fellow kebab-defenders, soy.

Address:
1 Piazza San Quirico
Lucca
Italy

Phone:
39-05-8349-6264

10. Ristorante Lombardo

Lombardo specializes in very honest Lucchese cuisine, such as the stewed codfish with leek, and also represents some decent and inexpensive local wines. Facing the port of Livorno, the restaurant’s terrace feels temperate and joyous with nuclear families, the mountains nearly glisten, and the lack of light pollution is spectacular. The egg-yellow ... Moretortelli lucchese are a meaty double threat—there’s beef and pork and bread crumbs inside, and beef and pork (and tons of vegetables) in the sauce. Lombardo’s pillowy specimens are so rich, eating them feels like biting into a Swiss franc.

Address:
4801 Via della Pieve Santo Stefano
Lucca
Italy

Phone:
39-05-8339-4268Less

11. Roman Amphitheater

Take a walk through Lucca’s Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, a sun-bleached ellipse of medieval houses built upon the ruins of a Roman amphitheater.

Address:
Piazza dell’Anfiteatro
Lucca
Italy

12. San Martino Cathedral

The church’s sacristy contains Jacopo della Quercia’s magnificent Gothic tomb of a poor young dear who died in childbirth, her noble dog loyally roosting by her feet.

Sample Livorno’s famous dish, cacciucco, at Trattoria Antico Moro, a seafood restaurant that smells entirely like its wares. Cacciucco is one of several local dishes that have Jewish origins, a metaphor for multicultural Livorno. The fragrant stew is an amalgam of at least five different kinds of fish, made from whatever the fishmonger has on... More offer, set afire by liberal use of red pepper, enhanced by tomato and red wine vinegar and plenty of toasted garlic bread.

* TripAdvisor LLC is not a booking agent and does not charge any service fees to users of our site... (more)

We noticed that you're using an unsupported browser. The TripAdvisor website may not display properly. We support the following browsers:
Windows:Internet Explorer,
Mozilla Firefox,
Google Chrome.
Mac:Safari.

TripAdvisor LLC is not responsible for content on external web sites. Taxes, fees not included for deals content.